USD Magazine, Winter 2001

GIVING OTHERS WHAT THEY GAVE UP Cllarlo tt c ielsen and Laura McDonald Lewis learned tl1e value o f a college edu ation tl1e !lard way - ic lscn was forced 10 abandon her dream for financial reasons during the Gr at Depression: McDonald Lewis was in her 405 wl1en sl1e returnee! to scl1ool. determined 10 complete her degr e after giving up on college .

UNDERSTANDING FINANCIAL AID

GRANTS Awarded on financial need, these are outright grants of monies chat do not have co be paid back. There are two types: the federal Pell Grant, based on substantial need for undergradu– ate students, and the Cal Grant, a need-based grant for California residents who attend college in California. A Cal Grant awarded this year to a USD student could pay up co $9,708 coward tuition. SCHOLARSHIPS The require– ments co be awarded a scholar– ship vary, but most demand a min– imum 3.0 grade point average, a certain academic interest or social service component. USD has about $600,000 in endowed scholarships (where donors' money is invested and the earn– ings given to qualified students each year), as well as USD Scholarships, which are given co promising students in need of financial help. Monies from USD Scholarships come in part from the donations of alumni and friends of the university. LOANS Three federal loan pro– grams (Perkins, Stafford and PLUS) offer students and parents a variety of borrowing programs chat provide lower interest races and better repayment plans than conventional bank loans. For example, the Stafford loan pro– gram does not require a student co begin paying off the loan until six months after graduation, and the current interest race, which is sec annually, is 8.19 percent. USD also offers students no-interest loans through the USDTrust Loan Program funded by donors and the Weingart Foundation, which has provided more than $14 mil– lion in loans co 2,800 students in the past 12 years. WORK STUDY Another fed– eral need-based program, quali– fied students are put co work at a variety of campus jobs.

I ntimately familiar with the struggles of getting through college, each have established endowed scholarships at USD to make sure ochers will have an easier time than they did. "It was my dream to go to college, but it would have cost my family five dollars a week for me to go away to school," says Nielsen, who won a scholar– ship to Missouri's Stephens College after graduating high school in 1932. "My father barely made chat much in a month." Nielsen gave up her pose-college plans - "I wanted to either teach kindergarten or have a stage career," she says. Bue after moving to San Diego, meeting her husband, che lace S. Falk "Neil" Nielsen, founder of the local Nielsen Construction Co., and raising five children, she had the opportunity to reignite her passion for higher education. "I became acquainted with the sisters at USD back in the days when it was separate colleges for men and women," she says. "I always thought ic was such a wonderful, peaceful place. It is the kind of college I wish I could have attended." This year marks the 25th chat the Nielsens have helped turn the wishes of ochers to attend USD into reality. The $25,000 they placed in an endowment in 1976 has grown and provides approximately $2,000 a year for USD students in need of financial aid. James Hrzina '96, who received the Nielsen schol– arship, says the gift helped make his USD education

would not have been possible without the scholar– ship, even with working 20 or 30 hours a week." Hrzina had to achieve a 3.4 or higher grade point average to maintain his scholarship. Laura McDonald Lewis considered a similar requirement when she and her husband, Gerald, endowed their scholarship. Bue she opted not co concentrate so heavily on academics. "I was a bookworm in high school and led a rather shelcered life," she says. "When I got to college, I really came out of my shell. I learned a lot, but chat didn't reflect in my grades. I had co maintain a 3.5 GPA, and when I fell below chat I lose my scholarship and had to quit school. "When we endowed the scholarship at USD," she says, "I insisted on parameters chat are probably more flexible than most ochers. " McDonald Lewis, who earned a degree in history magna cum laude at USD in 1994 after dropping out of both Chapman College and San Diego Scace University, established the scholarship when her hus– band said he wanted to gee her a special gift for her 50th birthday. "Education has always been important co me, and when I went back co college at USD and saw how hard chose kids worked and how eight it was for some of chem," she says, "I knew it was the thing to do."

possible. In addition to the scholarship and ocher financial aid, Hrzina worked in the university's computer lab and as a teacher's assistant at Francis Parker Middle

School to gee through school. "There was no way I could have done it alone, " says Hrzina, who now teaches his– tory and economics at Palos Verdes Peninsula High School while working on his master's degree at Loyola Marymount University. "I really wanted to go to a qual– ity school, but it definitely

Charlotte Nielsen (second from right) and daughter Kari Griffiths

13

WI NTE R 2001